


Always

by OverMyFreckledBody



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Claudia Stilinski, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Fluff, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Stilinski Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 11:03:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16785676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverMyFreckledBody/pseuds/OverMyFreckledBody
Summary: Stiles and his mom have a long standing tradition. They bake cookies and watch The Lord of the Rings.





	Always

**Author's Note:**

> Listening to [You'll Be In My Heart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=git6DCXSqjE) always makes me want to curl up in my own mother's arms like a baby monkey. 
> 
> also, hey, actually wrote a teen wolf fic that's accurately set in 2011 for once

Stiles is pulled out of his focus by a very familiar tune.

From the bottom of the stairs, he hears a soft rhythm that makes his throat dry up quickly. As he steps out of his bedroom doorway, he hears a voice sing along with it, “ _Just take my hand, hold it tight_.”

The voice continues on with the song while Stiles makes his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. There, his mother has her back to him as she sways gently to the Phil Collins playing on the stereo that sits on the counter. She’s pulling out ingredients, flour, eggs, butter, sugar. He knows what today is.

“ _This bond between us,_ _can’t be broken_ ,” she sings as she pulls the mixer out from where it was pushed up by the wall. “ _I will be here, don’t you cry_.”

Stiles smiles something soft as he slips behind her to grab the chocolate chips that she always forgets. Several times, they’ve just eaten the cookies without any chocolate, when it was too late to go back and add some. One time they even melted chocolate and spread it over the top, but it was too messy to do often.

He slides a hand over the tops of her shoulders as he passes, and she pauses in her singing to turn to him, a grin upon her face. “That sure was quick. Usually I have time to get everything out before you’re down here.”

He lifts the bag as if to say _not everything_ , but aloud, he replies with a shrug, “Heard the _Tarzan_ music.”

It’s much more than just _Tarzan_ music, he knows, which is evident in the way that, even now, it’s hard to form words. There’s something about the emotional songs in that movie, everything Phil Collins did with them, that really hits him where it hurts. It makes him want to hug his mother and never let go.

Especially this song. He supposes it fits, for their own mother-son bonding time. Plus, it’s his mother’s favorite movie, so she tends to cling to it and the music from it very tightly.

Chuckling, she turns back to the ingredients she’s already pulled out and waves over her shoulder. “Yes, yes, I know, my old lady love for Mr. Collins. Next, we’ll play your hip music –”

“Mom.”

“Like, what is it, Seeker?”

“ _Mom_ , God, no, stop.”

He knew she was smiling to herself, even if he couldn’t see her face. He bet she found herself _so_ funny, given the fact that he’d found her listening to the _Seether_ cover of _Careless Whisper_ the other day. God, she was such a troll.

“I don’t mind what we listen to,” he says, then pulling out the measuring spoons. “As long as it isn’t One Direction.”

“Who’s that, sweetheart?”

Thank God for small mercies.

* * *

Over the years they’ve done this, Stiles and his mother have learned that they can’t start up the movies until the cookies are up and out of the oven. It’s safer, too, to only start them once the cookies have cooled down enough to eat. Otherwise, they’ll completely forget about them and they’ll go cold, or worse, burn.

It’s amazing, really, that they haven’t set the house on fire yet. Either of them.

So, in the meantime, she’s coerced him into dancing with her – just as she always does. “Come on, baby,” she’ll always say. “Just a little swaying around the kitchen.”

It’s never just a little swaying. (But still, he can’t say he minds too much, when she grins all big, and laughs when he tries one of her “old lady dances”.)

Thankfully, she can sing enough for the both of them. He doesn’t think she’d mind his caterwauling, but he’s much more content to listening to her. It makes him feel safe, that same warm, snuggled up feeling like back when he was a child and she was singing him to sleep. There’s a light in her eyes that, now that he’s older, he can appreciate just as much.

“Thank you, sugar,” she’ll say, winded, once they finish, usually just some minutes before the cookies are done. She’ll pull at his shoulders until he bends down so she can press her lips down to his forehead. “You’ve indulged me enough tonight. Let’s go watch your movies.”

* * *

They watch Lord of the Rings. They always do. Star Wars is saved for another time – especially because _she_ is sympathetic towards _Darth Vader_ , given the fact that she actually liked the prequels – another tradition.

This one, instead, is sitting on the couch with their cookies and hot chocolate, laying back and preparing to start the journey of the ring. Stiles is excited, for next year, when the Hobbit movie (the first one, that is) will come out, and they can start with that. If it doesn’t pull a Star Wars, that is.

He has high hopes, given that the book was already written, and it’s got good people working on it.

Nevertheless, currently, with his mother, they watch as Bilbo frets about on screen. When he slips a hand into his pocket to touch at his ring, Stiles catches his mother twisting at her own ring. It actually sits on her finger, and he stares at it for a long moment, admiring the simple gold band and the meaning it has.

The scene changes and his attention is brought back to the movie as he settles further into the sofa, pulling his feet up and into his mother’s lap. He sees her lips twitch up and her free hand comes down to set atop his ankle.

He doesn’t think there’s anything better than watching a story about family love with his own family, beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! :D


End file.
